Audience members holding ceremonial white scarves as a token of respect as His Holiness arrives at the Boulder Theater in Boulder, Colorado on June 24, 2016. (Photo courtesy/Jeremy Russell/OHHDL)

(TibetanReview.net, Jun26, 2016) – A capacity-packed crowd of 9,000 attended an afternoon public talk given by Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, at the University of Colorado on Jun 23. Speaking in the university’s Coors Events Center, the Tibetan leader presented his case for a happier, friendlier world, reported denverpost.com Jun 23.

As he took the stage in the 9,000-capacity arena, Boulder Mayor Suzanne Jones handed the Dalai Lama a shiny bicycle jersey and white helmet which the latter put on, grinning widely at the crowd. Remarking that “His Holiness blesses us by his presence here,” Jones said that yesterday was ‘cycle to work day’ while making a gift of the cycling jersey and the white cycling helmet.

The Dalai Lama also acknowledged welcoming remarks by US Rep. Jared Polis, who spoke of “a tightrope” the Dalai Lama walked seeking autonomy for Tibet, not independence. Polis remarked on the congressional sit-in over gun control legislation, drawing a standing ovation, including the Dalai Lama, who clapped and called US lawmakers’ push to control violence “an important task,” the report said.

He expressed admiration for His Holiness’s role as Tibet’s spiritual and temporal leader and as a man of peace.

The report said the Dalai lama, in his speech, focused on the topic of compassion, Buddhist concepts of mindfulness necessary to achieve that and a growing need he saw for “secular ethics” in a world where he said schools were failing and where one in seven people don’t follow any religion.

Earlier in the morning, the Dalai Lama gave religious teaching in the same venue, greeted on his arrival by Chancellor of the University of Colorado, Phil DiStephano.

The Dalai Lama was invited to Boulder by a growing Tibetan exile community of more than 300 in Colorado, following his previous visit in 1997.